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| bartist |
 Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2024 12:02 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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grace wrote: Kind of looking forward to Richard Linklater's upcoming Hit Man. I hope it gets around to my local indieish theater.
Gifted review, if anyone's interested
https://wapo.st/3wReSu4
We loved this movie. Powell joins that short list of actors who have skillfully played multiple characters in a film (Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness, et al). Though technically he plays multiple "characters," not actually multiple roles. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:36 am |
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| So the 2024 movies I've seen are Kung Fu Panda 4, Dune part 2, Inside Out 2 and now Despicable Me 4. It's not just Hollywood that's in a rut. But what's with all the prequels? |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2024 10:02 pm |
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By the way, I mostly enjoyed Despicable Me 4, though it dragged in places, which was not true for 1 or 2 (I skipped #3 because it looked too childish even for me and apparently was.) In this, an old rival of Gru's, Maxime, is carrying on a grudge from their days at Villains Academy. Gru goes to a class reunion where Maxime gets an award for suppervillainy and reveals that he has transformed himself into Cockroach Man, which makes him superstrong, unkillable, even more disgusting, and the leader of an army of militant cockroaches which suspiciously resemble the Minions both in loyalty and incompetence. I broke up at that point.
Anyways, Maxime is arrested by the Anti-Villain League, promptly escapes and Gru, Lucy, the three adopted girls, and Gru and Lucy's biological baby, Gru, Jr. have to be put into witness protection. Which isn't that interesting, although their neighbors' daughter, Poppy, recognizes Gru, and blackmails him into committing a heist, at which point the movie gets a lot more fun, once you learn what the heist is. Poppy and Gru,Jr., both have promising careers as supervillains.
Oh, since the Gru family is in witness protection (and for some reason retain three Minions) the AVL has to hire most of the Minions with the usual disastrous results, and decide to turn five of them in Mega-Minions, with the usual disastrous results. (A sixth Minion decides to turn themself into a Mega-Minion and grows a horn on his head and starts farting rainbows, which was not their intent.)
One explanation I need is that at one point we're in a jail for super-villains and one of them was Vector from the first movie, who we last saw in Despicable Me trapped on the surface of the Moon as it resumed its usual orbit. How the Hell did he get back on Earth?
Recommended if you want to see a silly movie that is often fun, but otherwise totally skippable. |
Last edited by Syd on Tue Oct 15, 2024 9:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2024 1:15 pm |
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So did any, um, Oklahomans have some laughs watching all the gaffes in Twisters?
Twisters, though it has its share of cliches, science gaffes, and plot implausibles, is an entertaining ride through some nasty weather. I dont know if I've used the phrase pet-the-dog moments here - this movie has a couple too many, wherein characters demonstrate their niceness and moral compass by making decisions that IRL would not be the best for helping people or even remotely plausible. As someone originally from the heart of tornado country (as was my viewing companion), I'd say part of the fun was laughing at such moments. That said, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell have great chemistry and wild energy, reminding us that good acting can paper over a fair amount of malarkey.
What I found hilariously dumb was a couple of scenes where Daisy EJ is telling her chaser team, we have to skip our measurements and experiments and hurry into that town and warn everyone and help them find where to go! FFS, this is central Oklahoma, and every sentient being in that town knows exactly what to do where to go and what the sirens and ugly clouds mean, having it drilled into their Okie heads via parents, school drills, PSAs, etc from age two on. The science team would not drive into town and find a street fair going on with people oblivious or running around in confused circles. They would find everything abandoned and not a soul in sight, all down in cellars or reinforced concrete structures, away from windows and if possible under solid tables. In southern Kansas, where I lived through dozens of tornado warnings, this was basic life skills 101. My grandma up in Topeka had a twister pass within just a few blocks of her old folks home. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2024 11:50 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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bartist wrote: So did any, um, Oklahomans have some laughs watching all the gaffes in Twisters?
Twisters, though it has its share of cliches, science gaffes, and plot implausibles, is an entertaining ride through some nasty weather. I dont know if I've used the phrase pet-the-dog moments here - this movie has a couple too many, wherein characters demonstrate their niceness and moral compass by making decisions that IRL would not be the best for helping people or even remotely plausible. As someone originally from the heart of tornado country (as was my viewing companion), I'd say part of the fun was laughing at such moments. That said, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell have great chemistry and wild energy, reminding us that good acting can paper over a fair amount of malarkey.
What I found hilariously dumb was a couple of scenes where Daisy EJ is telling her chaser team, we have to skip our measurements and experiments and hurry into that town and warn everyone and help them find where to go! FFS, this is central Oklahoma, and every sentient being in that town knows exactly what to do where to go and what the sirens and ugly clouds mean, having it drilled into their Okie heads via parents, school drills, PSAs, etc from age two on. The science team would not drive into town and find a street fair going on with people oblivious or running around in confused circles. They would find everything abandoned and not a soul in sight, all down in cellars or reinforced concrete structures, away from windows and if possible under solid tables. In southern Kansas, where I lived through dozens of tornado warnings, this was basic life skills 101. My grandma up in Topeka had a twister pass within just a few blocks of her old folks home.
Oklahomans will often go outside to see the twisters coming (I've done that), though I'll often retire to the closet with the tv on and grab a good book. The chances that one will hit me are low, but I thought the same thing about the hailstorm that totaled my car. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 12:07 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Moana 2 isn't as good as the first due to a scattershot plot, too many characters back from the first film, and a teaser for a sequel (which I want to see), but still a gorgeous piece of animation, wonderful heroes including Moana herself and Maui, and the same insufferable hyperthyroid chicken. (I'll accept the pig, who's at least not obnoxious.) In this one, the Polynesian peoples were separated by the storm god who sunk the island that bound them by sinking it under the sea, so that they are all separated and can't reunite--unless they can find the lost island and bring it up again (Maui has this fishhook--the constellation Scorpius--that he used to do things like raising New Zealand and Hawai'i.) If Moana can touch it (or I guess anyone else), the curse will be broken, and the Polynesians can visit each other again. The problem is that if Moana and her motley crew can succeed in this quest, they will almost certainly die and Maui doesn't want this.
Nice film, but see the first one before watching this. I just realized every film I saw this year was a sequel, or, in the case of Dune, part 2 of a movie. Mostly animated, since I find it easier to follow the plot on animated films with hearing loss. I have no idea what the favorites are for the Oscars. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2024 12:45 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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| Lots of trailers. Usually six or more per movie. No idea why we would want another live action version of "Snow White", or a live-action version of "How to Train Your Dragon". Elio, the Pixar offering, was incomprehensible on first viewing. I think it may be more explicitly intended for younger audiences than most of their films. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 3:36 pm |
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https://wapo.st/4hicMF1
(paywall free version, courtesy of my WaPo subscription)
RIP David Lynch, unique and original film director. As I got older, I better appreciated his work, and learned to dampen my analytical side and let the strangeness wash over me. His 21st century return to Twin Peaks was wondrous (it helped having a serious Lynch fan at my side, guiding me through it).
And also RIP the other NYT forums diaspora site, escapefromelba, which appears to have been suspended ( likely a result of its anonymous owner's passage - he mostly stayed in the shadows, but reportedly he was fairly old) as of January 13. Owners die, bank accounts close, and one day the web host suspends the site for nonpayment - this is a common way old forums vanish, often without warning. Unless Mirgun is taking steps to transfer domain name ownership and web host account, or Marc set something up in a will, this is likely the fate of 3rd Eye. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 9:19 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12913
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I'm going to be taking over the payment in March from Marty since he's under financial pressure. The domain renewal is in June and I'll get in contact with Mirgun before that to see if there is any way to transfer it from Marc's name to someone else. Right now she's still dealing with Marc's death. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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